


I Can Hear Your Music (And Other Things..)

by bangtanwtf



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst, Bisexual Lance (Voltron), Cuban Lance (Voltron), Domestic Violence, Gay Keith (Voltron), Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Abuse, Korean Keith (Voltron), M/M, Neighbour AU, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Slow Burn, single dad Lance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-23
Updated: 2018-08-01
Packaged: 2019-06-15 05:51:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 13,108
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15406398
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bangtanwtf/pseuds/bangtanwtf
Summary: When single father Lance McClain and his daughter Lucia get themselves a new neighbour, seventeen year old Keith Kogane, it changes their life drastically.Feelings are discovered, and the past catches up to Lance when his eccentric little neighbour lands himself a boyfriend, but is everything as Keith says it is?





	1. Warnings & About

** This story contains: **

**1.** Implied/Referenced Domestic Violence.

( _Heavy Theme)_

**2.** Mentions of Mental Health Issues such as depression, anxiety. Additional mentions of a minor Eating Disorder. 

( _Heavy Theme)_

**3.** Implied/Referenced Alcohol Use. 

_(Minor Theme)_

**Additional Information:**

**•** For a portion of this fic, Keith  _is_ underage, however, nothing sexual will happen until he is eighteen. 

**•** The legal drinking age in my country is eighteen. I will be going by that. 

**•**  If you or anyone you know is experiencing anything similar to the themes discussed in this fic, I urge you to get help. 

_Here is a link to abuse hotlines worldwide._

_https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_domestic_violence_hotlines_

 

**Contact Me:**

You can reach me at kik, under the name @spacedudes

 

Enjoy, and thank you for reading.

 

:)


	2. Chapter One

Lance never expected to end up a single father. He'd never expected to end up a father in general, honestly. His career choices would be much too demanding for him to manage a child on the side, and he wasn't the type of person to assume his future wife would be perfectly fine staying home with their son or daughter all day long. In his mind, it just wouldn't work out. It couldn't.

He'd come to that decision at the tender age of sixteen, admitting to his poor mother that she wouldn't be getting grandkids from him. It had been a running joke in the family. "Oh, I bet Lance will be the first to end up with a kid now," his sister would say, a snarky grin on her face. His siblings liked to tease him, especially with how adamant that he'd been about not ending up a parent.

He went through high school how he'd planned. He got good grades and stayed out of trouble. He had the odd relationship here and there, but it was never anything serious. There was never anything more than boredom in each little kiss shared with each little girlfriend. He didn't have time for that.

But then, he met Nyma.

Nyma was a beautiful girl, standing five foot ten in tattered jeans and a basketball jersey stolen from her older brother. Long blonde hair was always worn in two pigtails, held up with brightly coloured scrunchies. She liked to experiment with blue eyeshadow, too, and red lipstick. She liked to be different. Lance loved it.

They hit it off straight away, and became close friends not long after she'd been placed next to him during a chemistry lesson on her first day at the school. Her first words spoken to the boy, baffled by how captivating she was, were as follows:

"Keep staring at me like that, and I'll punch you in the face."

If that isn't an effective opening like, Lance doesn't know what is.

Despite that rocky start, things only got better for them. Nyma brought Lance out of his shell. Together, they went to the most exquisite places. From crystal clear beaches to damp caves filled with interesting looking insects. From wild cities to quiet countryside. Lance had never felt so.. carefree.

It was only when they'd finished school, both graduating with exceptional end results, that Lance finally allowed himself to admit to Nyma his feelings for her.

"I love you," he'd said to her, looking over at her glowing features as they lay on the grass in the park, staring at the starry night sky. His voice was quiet, nervous, as if he was afraid he'd break the calming atmosphere they'd already built up around them. Nyma turned to face him after several seconds, when Lance's worrying was just starting to kick in. However, they were shattered when she flashed him the most beautiful smile.

"I love you, too."

It was that night that they showed their trust and love to one another. Maybe not in the best of places, as the backseat of Lance's car wasn't necessarily a comfortable place, but it was the sentiment that counted. It was the feelings whizzing around in the air, coursing through their veins and igniting their passions. Lance had never felt so strongly for a girl in his life. He'd never loved someone more than he loved Nyma with her messy hair and her quirky smile.

He loved her, and she loved him.

Or so he thought.

It was some weeks later that Lance's phone rang in the middle of the night, the device's loud vibrating against his bedside table jerking the sleeping man awake. He rubbed his eyes, sitting up in bed, barely alert. With the swipe of a finger, the call was answered, and the phone was pressed to his ear. "Hell-"

"I'm pregnant."

And it was all downhill from there.

Nyma hadn't wanted children either. She hadn't wanted to settle down, she wanted to travel, to explore. The little life inside of her was nothing but a burden, and a burden she blamed her boyfriend for.

Their relationship, having thrived for so many years, was down in a ditch. Lance couldn't even look at Nyma without being snapped at, without being told how stupid and useless he'd been to let something like this happen. She hated him. That's what she said.

"I hate you," she would screech during a heated argument that had started from nothing.

"I hate you," she would whisper as he apologised for the millionth time that day.

"I hate you," she said, as she packed her bags to leave, a mere fifteen days after giving birth to their young daughter.

"I hate you," she said, as she left their house and never looked back.

All that hate really broke a man, Lance learned. It made him feel like the most worthless thing in the world. He was left so unsure of everything; his future, his own health and the health of his child. There was no way he could care for her like this, cooped up in the little shack they'd called a home for so long. There was no way he could give her the best life she deserved.

So he went to stay with his mother for a number of months, finding himself a job that wasn't too demanding while his parents and sister cared for his little girl at home. Lucia, he named her, after his own mother who he would be forever indebted to for all she did for him in that first year of his daughter's life. He was eternally grateful.

Lance finally managed to land a place as an employee at a rather fancy office firm that allowed him to do a lot of his work from the comforts of his own home providing he worked on the premises for at least a year. That he did, his family putting in so much work to keep his baby safe and happy.

The jokes about him never wanting a child stopped once his daughter spoke her first word, a mumbled 'dada' that had her father bouncing around the house at six in the morning with the utmost excitement on his face. His sister had come to shut him up, but couldn't bring herself to say anything when through squinted eyes, she saw her brother the happiest he'd been in a long time, begging the gurgling baby to say it one more time.

It wasn't long after that, that Lance and Lucia finally moved into their own apartment. He'd finished his term at work, and was able to continue on from a little cramped office room in a flat in the centre of the city. It was the best he could do, though, and it was perfect for them. A two bedroom place, not too big but not too small. It wasn't ideal for his daughter to have to grow up without any other children to play with, but Lance did everything in his power to keep his little girl happy.

Despite the anger and sadness he still felt to Nyma, years later, he never showed it to Lucia. He made sure she thought the highest she could of her mom. "She had to do lots of busy work," he would say, as he braided his daughter's hair in the morning before daycare. "Like daddy's job, but.. even busier."

And that was good enough for her.

All in all, they had a good life. Sometimes they struggled, but in this new city, Lance had made a multitude of friends he knew he could count on when he needed to. He also always had his mom on speed dial, the woman insisting she was more than happy to help her son no matter what.

He was grateful for everything, but most importantly, he was grateful that Nyma had left Lucia to him, because that little girl made him so damn happy. He felt sorry for his ex-girlfriend, because she would never get to experience all the good times he'd experienced. She was missing out, and if he had the chance to speak to her even once more, he knew for a fact that that's what he'd say.

She'd missed out on first words, first steps, first tooth. She wasn't around for her first birthday, her first Christmas, her first day at daycare or her first day at school. Lance could proudly say that he'd seen it all. His daughter was his greatest accomplishment, and in the trash had he thrown his past attitude of never wanting children, because he wouldn't undo what had already been done for all of the money in the world.

Lucia grew up a very content little girl indeed. She had Lance's amazing family backing her up every step of the way, and she made countless friends during her time in school. Dare he say, that he knew that she was happier now than she would've been had he and Nyma stayed together. She hadn't wanted a baby, and he knew that. Perhaps things would have taken a bad turn had they remained in the unhappy relationship.

While he still loved her, deep down in his heart, he knew that their split was for the best.

After all, it had left him with so much happiness in the end..

— — —

"Lu, _please_.."

Lance sent a warning glare at the honey eyed girl, draped over the back of the couch and swinging her socked feet slowly beneath her. She was only half dressed, running around in a skirt and a vest that needed to be changed after the devilish seven year old had managed to sneak her way into the biscuit cupboard and attack a packet of chocolate chip cookies, smearing whatever was left on her hands all over her clothing in the process.

Her hair was half braided, one side neatly in a pretty plait that Lance certainly did commend himself for, the other side of long brown locks hanging loosely over her shoulder, unbrushed and unbraided. She flashed her father a toothy smile, showcasing the gap in the front where she'd recently lost a tooth. Lance had to suppress a grin. She sure got his cheeky nature, anyways.

"I don't want to go to school today, dad," she drawled, sitting up a bit, still perched on the back of the couch. Lance only noticed now that the socks she wore didn't even match. This girl.. "Too bad, Lu," he replied, warily stepping closer to her, a clean vest in his hands. He was only half dressed himself, fully clothed from the hips down, barely awake from the waist up. The girl caught sight of the vest and the way her father stepped carefully closer to her. She was about to make a dash for it, jumping down from where she sat, when there was a loud crash out in the hall.

It stunned both of them, Lance jumping in his place, dropping the vest to the floor, and Lucia letting out a quiet squeak of surprise before she made a run for the door, dashing out into the hallway to investigate. Lance groaned, running to pull a shirt on before he jogged our after his little girl.

Only, she was nowhere to be seen once he got out there, and there was nothing around that looked like it could've created such a sound.

"Lu? Lucia?" He called, stepping further out onto the landing, brows furrowed together. He heard a quiet giggle somewhere behind him, and quickly turned around to see his daughter standing there, all gummy smiles and a mischievous glint in her eyes.

Lance opened his mouth to speak, but she beat him to it. "I was talking to the nice man back there," she said, sweetly, pointing off down the hall. Like any father would, he panicked of course at the idea of his little girl talking to some strange man he didn't know. He furrowed his brows a bit, taking Lucia's hand and leading her down the hall, his steps wary. She skipped alongside him, humming quietly to herself until they rounded a corner and were met with the exhausted looking figure of the 'nice man.'

He looked young. A lot younger than Lance anyways, with a youthful sort of feeling to his pale face. He was a decent bit shorter, too, standing completely straight but still looking like he'd reach only to around Lance's neck. He had long, black hair, styled in a god-awful mullet that the man was sure had gone out of style long before this kid was even born. Lucia smiled at the guy, waving happily at him before her excited voice filled the quiet area.

"This is Keith!" she explained, gesturing to the mullet boy with an outstretched hand, covered still in cookie crumbs and melted chocolate. Lance looked sceptical, watching as 'Keith' nodded his head, one hand on his hip and the other coming up to brush his hair out of his face. He had the most extraordinary eyes, Lance noticed, very.. captivating.

"I'm Keith," he confirmed, returning the smile to Lucia who giggled, clasping her hands then behind her back. Lance still wasn't too sure, but he held out a hand for the boy to shake all the same, which he did, before retracing his hand and returning it to its place on his hip. "I'm Lance," he replied, chewing on his bottom lip. "You're just moving in?"

Keith nodded his head, letting out a huff of a breath as he looked into the flat he was standing next to, and Lance could only imagine the state it was in when he remembered what it was like when he and Lu had moved in. "Yeah, I am," he mumbled. "It's a hassle. My brother was supposed to help me, but he didn't bother waking up," he hummed, shrugging his shoulders some.

Lance nodded too, slower than Keith had. He inspected the boy some more. He looked of Asian descent, maybe Korean? Quite pretty, all the same. Very flawless looking skin, strong features and a cocky aura that Lance found he actually quite liked. "How old are you?" he questioned, unable to shake that curiosity from his mind, so he decided to just get over himself and ask.

Keith quirked a brow, but didn't seem overly unnerved by the suddenness. "I'm seventeen," he murmured, and it was only then that Lance began to suspect that was an odd question to ask so soon. He cleared his throat, running a hand through his hair. "Ah, okay.. Well, I have to drop Lu to school, but I can help you with your stuff when I get back?" he offered, and honestly, he was kind of expecting the shake of a head he got in response.

"Nah, it's fine. Thanks, though." Keith paired his words with a wave of his hand, and Lance found himself noticing little details like the bandaids wrapped around three of his fingers, and the little tattoo on his thumb. He shook his head a bit, looking up to meet the teen's eyes again. "You sure?"

"I'm sure."

And that was kind of.. it.

Lance and Lucia returned to their own flat then, and finally, the man was able to dress his daughter and clean her up. They didn't have time to do another braid, so he begrudgingly brushed the other one out, tying her hair into a simple ponytail instead. He ran a baby wipe over her face, pulling her shoes on and lacing them up for her, before he grabbed her backpack and they ran out the door together, giggling quietly as Lance loudly proclaimed his worries about how damn late they already were.

He loved it, though. He loved this. Even though mornings were stressful, they were worth it. He loved his daughter with all of his heart, and he loved their closeness that showed even through mundane things like morning school runs. He drove her to her school, giving the girl a quick kiss on the forehead as she climbed out of the car and ran off to meet up with her friends. He smiled after her, hanging out of the window to give her an enthusiastic wave as she caught his eye. She giggled, waving back at him, and then her teacher led her and the rest of her class into the building, closing the door after them as they all disappeared inside.

Lance let out a soft sigh, sitting back into his seat and smiling to himself. He took a few moments to just relax, letting the sun beat down on him through the glass of the windscreen, and the breeze relieve him through his open window. It was a beautiful day, honestly. He felt sorry for poor Keith having to move in such weather, but he didn't give it much though, honestly, as he started up his car again and pulled out of the parking lot.

He had work to do when he got home, lots of it. Writing reports, filling out spreadsheets and filing useless documents that he couldn't care less about. It paid, though, and that's what mattered most to him. He and his daughter wouldn't have this life they had now if he didn't suck it up and get on with things, so that's what he was going to do now.

As he stopped at the top of the stairs, eyeing the closed door of his own flat, he glanced down the hall to see if Keith was still out there bringing stuff in, but he was surprisingly met with a spotless floor and not a trace of anything but a closed door and the quiet hum of a nineties rock song playing from behind it. He shook his head, deciding not to think too much about their neighbour and instead focus on his work.

It was what was important, after all.

The day dragged on after that, as it always did when Lucia was gone. Her giggles weren't there to fill the apartment with happiness, her loud singing of random Disney songs was gone, leaving her room quiet. It was as if their home paused as soon as she left, and only played again once she was home. Lance had gotten so used to the noise of his daughter that when she wasn't around, it was rather lonely.

He did, however, have the noise of Keith's music coming from just down the hall. Not for long, he assumed. The only other person who lived on this floor was a grumpy old British woman who sent glares at anyone who so much as coughed too loudly. Lance guessed she would be knocking at the teenager's door soon enough to shut him up.

Speaking of teenagers, Lance was still unsure of Keith's age. While he definitely did look seventeen, it was odd that he was living alone. That most likely meant that he didn't go to school, which was even more odd, because he should still at least be in his senior year, no? Dropouts weren't exactly always welcomed, but that was the only other option. A high school dropout.

Regardless, he seemed nice enough. Maybe a bit awkward, but all teens were. He seemed harmless, too, which was good, because Lance had only just shaken off the panic he'd felt since that morning upon hearing his little girl had been talking to some strange 'nice man' without his knowing. Hopefully, Keith would be a good neighbour. Better than the British woman, that anyways.

The man stopped letting useless things consume him, then, snapping out of his little trance to return to his work. He might as well get at least something done before he had to pick Lucia up, because Lord knows, once she was home, little was doable other than entertaining her seven year old mind.

They would play dress up, babies, Barbie games, Mario Kart, drawing, jigsaws, everything! On the off day, they'd go to the playground down the street, usually when the sun was shining like it was today. Lance knew that it must be rather frustrating for Lucia to live in an apartment block, one that none of her friends even lived close to, mind you, so he tried to get her out as much as he could. Along with the park, there was a community swimming pool that she definitely favoured, and an indoor climbing wall at a local athletics centre.

Her favourite thing of all, however, was summer time. During the two months off of school Lance had when he was a child, his family generally all returned to Cuba for the duration of the break. The rest of his relatives all still lived there, and his family were close, so it was the only time they really got to see one another. It had been Lance's favourite thing to do when he was a child, and even during high school. While most teenagers wanted to be hanging out with friends and not with parents, he was the complete opposite.

Because he'd enjoyed it so much, he decided that Lucia would, too. It's not like Nyma wanted anything to do with her, so visiting her was out of the question. Her current whereabouts weren't even known to her ex-boyfriend. Instead, for two months every year, Lance packed up and went with his mother, father and siblings back to sunny beaches and the huge family home he'd been visiting his whole life. And he had definitely been right about his daughter loving it as much as he did, by the way.

It was currently nowhere really near summer vacation, honestly, the cool months of Spring only just approaching. However, Lucia was already gushing about how excited she was for that last week in June, where they'd venture back to what had to be her favourite place in the world. Like Lance had been when he was younger, she had no interest in staying to hang out with friends. She was a family girl, and he was glad.

Suddenly, the loud honk of a car horn below his open office window snapped Lance out of his thoughts once again (so much for getting stuff done), and he jumped up in his seat, ramrod straight instead of lounging lazily back as he daydreamed on. His eyes went straight to his laptop screen, an unfinished document open in front of him and the time displayed down in the corner. It was only one o'clock in the day, he noticed, so he had time before he had to collect Lucia. He let out a breath of relief. Gosh, he was so unorganised..

The distant hum of Keith's music was still going, he noticed then, the heavy bass line being most prominent, followed by the steady beat of a drum. Ah, youth, he mused, standing up from his chair. He decided to abandon his work for now, because really, it wasn't going anywhere decent with how unfocused he was. Lance figured he could just lounge around until two, and then maybe he'd get the motivation to do something helpful.

He plopped down onto the couch, switching the television on to a random channel playing a random show about some space shit. Eh, good enough, he thought, as he relaxed back against the comfortable cushions and lost himself in the screen.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading.
> 
> :)


	3. Chapter Two

Just down the street from Lance's quiet little apartment, there lay an even quieter little park. Nestled in the heart of the city, the expanse of land was a man's only release from the hustle and bustle of the suburban life around it. It was the only place for miles that one could safely jog along winding pathways, or perhaps walk with their dog, without the looming possibility of an impatient driver deciding to speed you up with the horn of their car, or the hum of an engine.

The park was filled with nature life. Trees swayed softly in the breeze, their leaves dancing through the slightly cold air before coming to rest on the dewed grass below. The park owners, a lovely old couple who lived on the premises, also planted flowers. They had planted flowers with the most beautiful petals, from bright pinks and reds to deep, night-sky like indigos and blues. Huddled together, lining the little paths, the flowers were well kept by the park workers. On the days during which they had nothing to do, Lucia loved to drag her father down to the park, just to admire the pretty little things.

Further into the park, still within the gates, there lay a playground. It was old enough, probably older than Lance himself, but it, like the flowers, had been taken care of. Thanks to that, the structures (slide, swing set, small climbing frame and a deathly fast roundabout) had all maintained the original glory they surely had when first erected.

The little playground wasn't hard to find, if you knew where you were going. It was encased by the spiralling trunks of trees just as old as itself, and had a certain seclusion that the rest of the park just didn't quite share. Lance had stumbled across it one day during a clearing of the head walk after work, and although he'd been absolutely exhausted, he'd returned immediately with Lucia after collecting her from school that day.

He knew she'd love it, and boy, had he been right.

It was one of their favourite things to do, honestly, to pack up some food and two bottles of water in whatever bag was lying around and then just go. The two could spend hours at a time, laying around on the painted tarmac of the little playground with Lance either scrolling through his phone or flipping through a book, and Lucia prancing around like a crazy person, hanging from the climbing frame and tumbling down the slide.

It was like a little escape, all to themselves, because there were only a select few people that had actually discovered the little playground up until now.

Lance hoped it stayed that way.

That day, that surprisingly sunny day, the man decided that after school, he and his daughter could just go straight to the park. He knew he had work to do, and he knew he had to do it soon, but he didn't want to coop Lucia up in their cramped little apartment all day. He could work when she went to bed.

"Now, only if you promise to do your homework before dinner," the man had warned, poking at his little girl's forehead when she let out a whine of protest. She had seemed reluctant at first, as they walked together out of her school and towards the car. However, as soon as she felt the sun on her tanned skin, she was sold.

Lance drove them to the park, humming along quietly to the radio that played in the background of Lu's chatter. She told him all about her day, about how she'd scraped her knee in the playground, or perhaps about how she'd made a mess of her picture in art class after spilling a tub of red paint across the table, simultaneously ruining the artwork of four other children in the process. She was full of talk, and Lance himself was full of listen, if you please. He loved to hear her stories.

The park wasn't far from the girl's school, so within ten or fifteen minutes, the car was being parked in the parking lot, and the plastic bag filled with things they might need was being unloaded from the trunk. Lance made sure to take ahold of Lucia's hand to ensure she didn't wander off, and then they were set to go.

Despite the nice weather, there were few people around once the pair actually got inside. "I bet the playground will be empty," Lucia exclaimed, her voice as bouncy as her feet as she hopped along the walkway they'd used so many times. "I bet it will be," Lance replied, nudging her gently with a grin. "I guess I'm just an expert at choosing when to come here, hm?"

That earned him a groan.

The two walked through the park, taking their sweet time because honestly, it was hard not to when surrounded by such beauty. Lance hummed quietly to himself, Lucia whistling along to her own little tune. All was so calm and so quiet, until..

"Oh, Lance!"

The man jumped a bit, the sound of his name breaking through the quiet and calm of the park stunning him for a brief moment before he turned to look in the direction of the call. Sure enough, there was someone coming towards them.

Hunk Garrett, Lance's very best friend, strutted up the pathway towards them. He wore a loose fitting striped shirt and a pair of khaki shorts, his hands tucked into the pockets. It wasn't unusual to see him around here, because Hunk lived close to the area and liked to go for a stroll every now and then, liked to appreciate the surroundings. The pair usually ran into him on their journey to the playground.

"Hey, man," Lance grinned, slapping hands with his friend once he was close enough. He went in for that cheesy bro-hug, chuckling like an idiot to himself when Lucia joined in. Like her father, she adored Hunk. He was basically like an uncle to her, but a cool uncle. He was the kind of uncle that couldn't say no to her pleading smile and puppy dog eyes, the kind of uncle she wanted.

Hunk was a great guy overall, though. When Lance was really busy, on days where work was just too much, the man would step in and take care of his daughter for him. He would do simple little things like taking her out for the day, picking her up from school.. even just helping with her homework! But all those 'little things' added up, and they added up to a very unbreakable friendship between not only the two adults, but Hunk and Lucia too.

"Hey, guys. Good to see you here. Off to the playground, I assume?" he asked, raising a brow. Lance laughed, nodding his head as they started walking again, this time with Hunk in tow. Lucia skipped ahead, finally breaking her hand free from her father's protective hold. She danced around in the grass, hopping over flowerbeds and ducking under trees.

"Where's Shay?" Lance asked, briefly taking his eyes off of his daughter to send a pointed glance in Hunk's direction. He was referring to the girlfriend of his best friend. Shay was just as kind and caring as Hunk himself, and Lucia loved her too. Not only did she have an awesome uncle, but also a pretty cool aunt, too. Hunk shrugged. "She's gone off shopping with her mom today, something about an upcoming wedding they need to prepare for," he explained, running a hand through his hair.

Lance nodded slowly, looking back to Lucia who had stopped to inspect and little dip in the ground. "Looking for a four leaf clover!" she called, poking her little paint-stained index finger through the vegetation. Her father quirked a brow, but stopped to let her search all the same, Hunk coming to a pause next to him.

"We got a new neighbour, today," the man mused, one hand on his hip, the other swinging his plastic bag idly back and forth. "Just a kid, honestly. He says he's only seventeen."

Hunk was the one to raise a brow, then. "Seventeen? Living alone?"

"Yeah."

They didn't converse anymore about Keith after that, seeing as Lucia had promptly given up her expedition to find a lucky charm, and had instead taken off running in the direction of the playground. It was just up again, rusted gates visible from where the two adults resumed their pace.

The playground had one little bench in it, past a little ramp at that gate - the purpose of which was still unknown to Lance. Inside of the enclosed area, directly facing the entrance, the swing set stood proud. It looked old, seat held to frame by chains. They'd been painted black, but the pain was chipped slightly. A few steps from that, there was a slide. Ten steps to the top, it wasn't too tall for the young girl to play on. It was probably her favourite, because she could pretend it was a castle if she stood at the summit.

Among other little things like a small sandpit and a bike rack, there was also a rusted roundabout. It had two bars in total, both bent across one another and meeting in the middle to create four spaces for four unsuspecting children to nestle themselves in, only to be vigorously thrown around by the unexpected speed. Lance had learned that the hard way after regretfully letting Hunk push him on it one day, much to the amusement of his daughter.

Finally, there was the climbing frame. Today, Lucia went straight for that. It was about as tall as the slide, ten bars each side to climb up, and then fourteen across to dangle from. The little girl rushed up the steps, not stopping when she got to the top, and instead, precariously wobbling across the bars until she was in a position where she could..

"Lucia McClain! Get down from there!"

The seven year old offered only a giggle as a response. There she was, her legs hooked over the bars and the rest of her, well, just.. hanging there. Upside down. One of her hands went to hold her skirt down, the other waving excitedly at her pale-faced father and his chuckling friend.

Lance was just glad that nobody else was hanging around the playground, meaning nobody else had to witness the way he silently prayed to whatever Gods were out there that his daughter wouldn't fall.

Hunk slapped his back, shaking his head. "Calm down, dude. She'll be fine. I bet you were even more of a daredevil as a kid, hm?" The man led his friend over to the bench, plopping comfortably down on the wooden surface. Lance eased himself down next to him, letting out a shaky sigh. "I was, but.. Jesus. Now I know how my mom felt," he laughed.

The two sat there for some time, just engaging in usual grownup conversation. They talked about boring things; taxes, cars, ironing. What else was there to really talk about? Neither of them were careless teenagers anymore. They both had responsibilities.

"How's work going?" Lance asked, retrieving a bottle of water from his bag and taking a sip. He handed the other to Hunk, figuring he could just share his own with Lucia. The other man thanked him, downing a generous mouthful before he gave a nonchalant shrug of his shoulders. "It's alright. We're working on a van at the moment. The owner is a carpenter, or something. He was stocking things up in the back and overloaded. The whole floor fell through."

Hunk was an engineer. He worked in a trusted garage just outside of the city alongside a good friend of his; a mechanic. They did all sorts of repairs and upgrades on all sorts of vehicles. Hunk was incredibly intelligent, and Lance didn't doubt that his friend was too.

"Jeez.." he shook his head. "He must've seriously overloaded it then?" Lance himself didn't know much about cars. He barely knew anything about his own car, honestly. He liked to talk to Hunk, though, so he didn't mind. "Yeah. He stacked a crap ton of stuff back there. Shiro, the mechanic, almost freaked out when he saw the damage."

Lance gave a low whistle. He looked back to Lucia, who was rambling to herself at the top of the slide. He smiled softly, turning back to Hunk. "Good luck, man. You know I'd be completely clueless with cars," he chuckled, and Hunk laughed too. "You are useless with 'em," he grinned.

They fell back into random chatter, then, not really talking about anything groundbreaking for the moment. It was just an easy flow of words. Lucia skipped over every now and then for a sip of water, but for the most part, she was content to play by herself. She preferred when the playground was empty.

"So, a new neighbour, hm?" Hunk finally asked, reviving their conversation from earlier before they'd gotten here. Lance nodded his head, stretching his legs out in front of himself, crossed at the ankles. "Yup. His name is Keith. Seems like a nice guy. Lu ran off this morning while we were getting ready and bumped into him. It's a nice change from just having that grumpy old bat in 2A."

Hunk furrowed his brows. "Keith? Shit, man, I think I know him," he murmured, stroking his chin carefully between his index finger and thumb as he delved into his thoughts for a brief second, before he spoke once more. "Shiro's got a brother named Keith. They're adoptive siblings, seem quite close. He said they had an argument a couple months ago, though, and so Keith decided to move out.."

Lance's attention was drawn from his daughter, and instead given to Hunk. "No way, really? Small world," he breathed, the corner of his mouth tugging upwards into a small smile. "A bit young to be living alone, though, no? I mean, he shouldn't even be finished high school yet."

Lance couldn't imagine what would've happened had he dropped out of high school, much less if he'd be feeling stable enough to live in a place on his own. The fact that Keith had done both and was miraculously not rocking back and forth in a corner was pretty impressive. Teenagers these days were apparently maturing a lot quicker, as it seemed.

Hunk shrugged, catching Lance's quizzical expression. "Not really. Shiro says he helped pay the deposit, but Keith's already got a job. He's capable of paying rent. That's usually all most landlords care about," he concluded, drumming his fingers against his knee. Fair point. Lance didn't necessarily live in the nicest area, so he doubted the men and women in charge actually gave a shit about who was moving into their property as long as they could cough up the cash every month.

"Damn, I certainly wasn't that independent at seventeen," Lance mumbled, and Hunk snorted.

"Are you even independent now~?" he teased, earning a nudge to the side from a now pouting Lance.

— — —

After Lucia had gone to bed that night, Lance moved to the office for the second time that day in hopes of actually getting something done. He still had at least three reports to fill out, and that wasn't even including the filing that came along.

He sat himself down at his desk, an old but beautiful piece of furniture that had surprisingly come with the apartment. It was pushed up against the only window in the small, box-shaped room, overlooking the busy city streets and also facing another window that he assumed belonged to one of his two neighbours.

Now was not the time to think about that, though. Lance looked to his open laptop, cracking his knuckles before beginning the boring but necessary task of typing out useless paragraphs of information. He typed and typed and typed until his joints started to hurt and his eyes began to water from staring at the screen for too long. It was all worth it, though. Worth it for that generous pay check, he means.

Lance is about to open up another document to start his next report, when he hears the quiet vibration of music presumably coming from Keith's apartment. The British woman was hardly listening to Nickelback, anyways. He looked up, a smile coming to his face. He liked the sound, the thrum of life breaking through the sometimes deafening silence.

For some reason, his eyes landed on the window across from his own. It was wide open, the curtains pulled back and the blinds raised. He could see the inside of a bedroom from where he sat, a slightly off centre poster stuck on the wall, surrounded by other, smaller posters. He could just about make out the outline of a bed, too, but as he was focusing on that, something else caught his eye.

Keith, his somewhat mysterious neighbour, was currently dancing around the room Lance had previously been inspecting. In only red boxer shorts and absolutely nothing else, he appeared to be enjoying himself as he twirled across the floor, hairbrush in hand and held like a microphone, mouth moving as he enthusiastically lip-synced to "Rockstar."

It was an amusing sight, to say the least. Lance, for the millionth time since that afternoon, found himself briefly abandoning his work once again in favour of something else; something much more interesting. He couldn't help but chuckle, the sound low and quiet. What a dork.

Just as he was about to resume typing, Keith caught his gaze. Their eyes met, and the teen promptly stopped his prancing about, the hairbrush falling from his hands as he scrambled to close the curtains. Lance had already seen enough, though, and with a final smile and a shake of his head, he returned to his laptop to type the night away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading.
> 
> :)


	4. Chapter Three

Housewarming gifts were still a thing, right? It was still polite to show up at a stranger's door holding a potted plant and an awkwardly written card for them, right? Lance sure as hell hoped so, because thanks to his very persuasive daughter, they were on their way to one of the indie decor stores in town looking for something to give Keith as a.. 'welcome' gift.

Lucia had insisted with everything in her little body that it was the _height_ of rudeness for them not to acknowledge their new neighbour with a present. She had stamped one small foot against the living room floor, tiny fists clenching at her sides. Lance found it hard to say no to her when she got like that, because she was a determined creature, and she wouldn't stop until one of two things happened; Lance sent her to her room, or Lance gave in.

He usually preferred the latter.

So here they were, in the car. The radio was up loud, playing one of Blink-182's older songs. Lucia had a good taste in music, thanks to her dad. She appreciated music a lot, and she loved these particular songs. The windows were rolled down, air blowing into the car and dancing around in their hair, slightly drowning out the radio but it was quite warm out. It would be impractical to close them. The man hummed quietly along to the song, while the girl rambled on from the backseat about different gift ideas.

"i think we should get him a new mirror! like the big fancy one abuela has in the living room," she exclaimed, waving her arms around. Lance scoffed. He couldn't imagine Keith having such a thing in his house. He seemed like more of a.. retro, mismatched, hipster kinda guy. Certainly not a fifty-year-old woman in a floral dress, anyways.

Lucia took her father's scoff as a no, and huffed. She was silent for a few more moments, pondering on every little idea in her head. "What about an ironing board? You have one of those." The girl shrugged her shoulders, and Lance just caught her cheeky smirk in the rear view mirror. He rolled his eyes. "I'm sure he has an ironing board, Lu. We can have a look around when we get there, okay? I'm sure there'll be something cool in store that he'd like."

Lance really hoped that would be the case. Lucia had made him feel kinda bad about not doing anything to welcome their new neighbour sooner. He couldn't believe that a seven year old was a better human than him.

It was around ten minutes later that they were pulling into the parking lot of the store. It seemed to be pretty empty, judging by the lack of cars around. The only vehicles apart from their own was a blue corvette a couple spaces down, and a brand new looking SUV a bit further up. Lance climbed out of his own rusty old truck, taking Lucia's hand once she'd freed herself from her seatbelt and flattened her dress down to its previous state.

The store was nice and cool inside, really spacious too. There were several weaving aisles visible just from the entrance, all leading down to different areas of the store probably filled with all kinds of interesting little trinkets. Lance sucked in a deep breath. He knew how indecisive Lucia could be, so he figured they were gonna be here for a while.

"Alright, we need something small, something like those ornaments we've got at home on the shelf in the living room, yeah? Don't start dragging mirrors around," he warned, poking the girl's nose and earning a giggle in response. She tugged on his hand, leading him towards a tall rack filled with antique looking glass dogs. An odd display, but cute all the same.

Lucia was clearly having the absolute time of her life as she ran around the store, pointing and poking at every second item with sparkling eyes as bright as the sun but as dark as dark chocolate at the same time. "He would love this!.. Or this!.. Maybe this!"

Don't get him wrong, Lance adored his daughter, but it had been about forty five minutes now, and all they'd accomplished was becoming very acquainted with the same aisle.

They'd gone down it roughly seven times now.

Just as the man was about to give up and cry, a little tap to his shoulder blade snapped him out of his despair. He twirled around on his heel to meet the eyes of the perpetrator, only to have to look down to actually.. meet their eyes.

In front of him, there stood a girl. She couldn't be much taller than five foot, honestly, and her hair seemed to make up a lot of her height too. Large, honey eyes were framed by larger, circular glasses. She wore a tight t-shirt, brown in colour, and a pair of black jeans. Tied around her waist, there was a black apron type thing with the name of the store plastered on the front in block letters. She flashed Lance a grin and waved one little hand at him.

"Hi, I work here," she began. She sounded young, and she looked young too. Did she really work here? "I've been watching you hopelessly wander for like.. an hour now. Is there anything I can help you with?"

Lucia had turned to look at the girl, too, and once the question had been asked, she jumped straight in to answer. Lance sighed, but he smiled as she began her excited ranting about what they were there for.

"Well, we got a new neighbour! His name is Keith and he is really young. My dad isn't very young though," she explained, murmuring the last part with faux-innocence lacing her voice. "I told dad we should get him a mirror! My grandma has a mirror, does yours?"

The little girl looked hopefully up at the slightly bigger girl, a small smile tugging at her lips. The employee chuckled, using the tip of her index finger to gently slide her spectacles up her freckled nose. "Yes, my grandma has a mirror," she smiled, reaching over to ruffle Lucia's hair with a wink. "But I think housewarming gifts are usually.. little things! Like.. this!"

The honey eyed teen glanced around her, chewing on her bottom lip as her eyes scanned the surrounding shelves in search of an example. A gasp escaped her lips when she caught sight of something, and a paint splattered hand shot out to grab it.

It being an ornamental cat with stubby paws holding a blackboard. Chalked on, were the words: 'go away.'

Seemed quite.. Keith?

Lucia giggled quietly, reaching up to prod at the pointy ears of the tabby cat. It's eyes were squinted, it's tiny mouth pulled down by a grumpy frown. Lance quirked a brow. It was amusing, he'd have to admit.

The employee smiled, placing the cat back onto the shelf and pushing her glasses up again. "Housewarming gifts are important! You wanna get this Keith something that he can display, yeah? Maybe on the windowsill or the fireplace? An ornamental cat is good, but I know what's better." She smirked. "Follow me."

The teen took off down the aisle, Lucia skipping behind her. Lance had no choice but to follow her, his hand still enveloped in that of his daughter. He took a quick glance around him at the passing shelves, seeing things like recycled junk-metal sculptures and desk lamps and cracked teapots, probably for show. This store was quite cool, he just hoped it was cool for his seventeen year old neighbour too.

The world had changed drastically since he was seventeen, so things he thought cool were possibly quite 'lame' for the current teenagers. He didn’t want to get Keith something that he’d end up tossing out, or perhaps leaving to gather dust on top of his closet. He wanted to get the guy something that would make him feel.. welcome. Moving out was scary, moving out before eighteen was probably scarier, even if Keith didn’t show it.

Lance just wanted him to know that he had a friend. Two, counting Lucia.

Before he knew it, they were stopped. He glanced around, not really recognising the items on display despite the fact that they’d been all over the store.. or so he thought. He figured the employee had taken them further into the store. It was quite big, after all.

“My brother and I make these,” she said, and before Lance even looked at her, he could hear the smile in her voice. He blinked himself out of his own thoughts to focus instead on what was being shown to him.

They were stood in front of a small set of shelves, chipped wood and looking old, but holding the most exquisite little things. Glass lanterns with feathered dream catchers hanging inside, or perhaps candle holders with intricately painted glass. Everything looked handmade. Lance caught sight of a little cactus plant, probably not real, but he wasn’t sure. The small, cube shaped pot was white in colour with tiny flowers painted on in different shades of brown. It all held a very.. coffee-shop vibe.

It was pretty awesome.

“It’s just a matter of finding natural things like feathers and combining them with things like beads and threads to.. accentuate things that already make for good little ornaments.” The employee stood with her hands behind her back. Lance only now noticed the splatter of brown paint on her cheek, so he figured she’d been the one to design the cute little plant pots.

He smiled, before looking back to the shelf. Everything was so.. aesthetically pleasing, but he needed to find the best. Lucia was the same, eyes scouring over everything she had been met with. Lance could see her eyeing up a little handheld mirror with two braided threads running up and down the handle. This girl and mirrors..

“These are extraordinary.. Very different. You guys make all of these yourselves?” he asked, looking to the girl. Her cheeks flushed and she nodded. “Yep. Matt, my brother, is very into the whole.. forest aesthetic. So we like to incorporate that kinda stuff into the things we paint. His favourites are the plant pots and stuff, mine are the lanterns.”

At the mention of the lanterns, Lance looked back to find one. His eyes landed on a particular piece, one that just.. stood out. It was a short little thing, completely see through and with a little white candle perched inside. The glass encasing the candle was painted, like the other stuff, but upon closer inspection, Lance found that it was different.

“Music notes,” he said, softly, reaching up to gently trace his index finger over the swirling stave and the music notes fluttering off of the lines. It was beautiful, and Keith liked his music..

The employee cleared her throat, nodding. “Yep. It’s one of the only ones with a theme other than nature,” she explained. She reached over with delicate hands to pick up the little lantern and bring it out of the dark shelf into the artificial light of the store. Lucia stood up on her top toes to peer inside, smiling slightly. “Keith likes music,” she said, softly.

Lance bent down a bit to see what his daughter was seeing. From this close, the designs looked even more intricate. They were beautiful, so captivating. Your eyes wouldn’t catch it all at once, you would have to really examine it for some time to take in everything.

It was perfect, really. Stylish, small, significant. Lance hadn’t seen anything else today that spoke to him as much as this.

“How much?”

— — —

On the way home from the store, they’d picked up a pretty generic ‘congratulations on your new home’ card from the gas station, as well as a box of matches. The lantern was beautiful and all, but it would be a bit pointless if Keith couldn’t light the candle.

Lance really hoped he liked it. He hadn’t spoken to Keith other than that encounter in the hall, but that had been a little over a week ago by now. He’d caught the teen dancing in his underwear a couple more times since the first time it had happened, but that hardly counted as meaningful conversation. Regardless, he wanted to be on good terms with the kid. Their only other neighbour was a couple months short of turning into a fossil, so he was gonna take what he could get.

Once Lance and Lucia were home, they both sat down at the kitchen table, pen in hand, and got to work on the card. The girl spent her time doodling a picture on one side, while the man carefully considered his words. He didn’t wanna come across as some creep, but he also didn’t want this to seem forced.

Eventually, long after Lucia had finished her drawing, he settled on the following:

[ Keith,

Congrats on moving into your new place. Sorry you got stuck with the world’s most uninteresting neighbours. Hopefully this makes up for it?

Lance & Lucia. ]

Yes, it was awkwardly worded. Yes, he was regretting it already. No, there was nothing he could do about it now. Why?

They’d already knocked on the door.

It took about a minute for Keith to answer, and when he did, his hair was dripping wet and he smelled very strongly of shower gel and that god awful cologne that every teenage boy from here to Tokyo seemed to own. Somehow, though, it was a little more tolerable on him.

“Uh, hey, guys,” he said, crossing his arms over his chest. Despite the awkward tone lingering on his voice, he cracked a little smile. Lance opened his mouth to speak, but it was like his daughter could sense just how socially inept her father could really be sometimes. She spoke first.

“We got you a gift!”

She spoke with a bright smile, her tanned cheeks flushed pink. Keith eyed her, brows raised, and then he looked to Lance. The man chuckled nervously, rubbing the back of his neck.

“You did?”

“We did.”

Lucia’s hands emerged from behind her back, then, and tangled around small fingers was the handle of a little, patterned gift bag, courtesy of Katie (the employee at the store). She held the bag out, and Lance could see in her eyes that she was having a hard time keeping herself from just opening the present up for their neighbour. She restrained herself, though.

Keith’s cheeks suddenly became a very noticeable shade of red, the light hue dusting across his pale skin in a way that honestly looked incredibly good on him. He reached out to take the bag, offering Lucia a shy smile, which she returned.

“You guys..- You didn’t have to,” he said, softly, peering into the bag. “Do you wanna come in? You can help me open it.” Keith added the last part with a wink sent in Lucia’s direction. She gasped, nodding her head, and who was Lance to say no?

That’s how they found themselves sitting in Keith’s living room.

His apartment was almost identical to theirs, structure wise. Firstly, a large enough living room that was a step down from the rest of the place. Off to the side, his kitchen could be seen. It had a little breakfast bar that faced outwards towards a large window on the far side of the room. A window seat had been added there, unlike in their own apartment, and was decorated simply with a fluffy, cream-coloured pillow.

Keith had one couch, a coffee table in front of it, a television on the opposite wall, and a bookcase off to the side that was filled not with paperbacks and fairytales, but stacked to the brim with CDs and vinyls and everything that just screamed.. music. There was a chipped old acoustic guitar propped up against the wall next to the fireplace, too. Lance eyed it carefully, before he turned to look at where Lucia was taking Keith through the steps necessary to remove his gift from the packaging.

“It’s delicate, so be careful,” she whispered, stepping back slightly. Keith shot her a smile and gently removed the little lantern from the bag. His grin fell when he saw it, though, his lips parting in the same kind of surprise Lance had shown when he’d first seen if. He inspected it closely, dark eyes scanning over the complex design, fingers tracing the patterns as he watched them dancing across the glass.

Lance and Lucia caught one another’s eye, sending each other knowing grins. The man reached into his back pocket, pulling out the box of matches and sliding them onto the coffee table. “We found it in some cool little shop downtown. Lu and I both thought it was fitting.”

Keith finally looked up, his eyes meeting Lance’s. He was silent for a brief moment, before he flashed a smile brighter than anything else he’d ever shown, probably. The thoughtfulness of the gift combined with the relief that he wasn’t alone around here (even such a small gesture could show him that) filled his heart with so much happiness and relief.

“I love it,” he replied. “I really love it. It’s beautiful. It really fits with my aesthetic, too.” Keith paired his words with a little wink as he carefully set the lantern down on his coffee table. He spent a couple more seconds admiring it, before reaching for the card. Lucia jumped in, sitting down next to the teenager. “I drew a picture on it! Dad wrote something, but I bet my picture’s better,” she giggled.

Keith grinned. “I bet it is.”

He opened up the card, looking over the picture first, inspecting it like he had the lantern. Lance knew it was for the benefit of Lucia, who looked absolutely delighted at the sight of her artwork being appreciated. “You certainly are very good at drawing,” Keith hummed, looking up at her. “Much better than any grownups I know, anyways~”

He looked to Lance. “And you. Shut up. You guys are pretty cool neighbours,” he laughed. The older man smiled, a small breath of relief unable to be stopped from slipping past his lips. “I mean, you guys are well better than the fossil next door. I’ve decided she’s in desperate need of a certain surgical procedure. You know, to remove the foot long stick from up her ass.”

Lance almost choked on the laugh that attacked him quite suddenly upon hearing those words. Keith said it with such monotony, it was hard not to splutter into your hand just at the look on his face. The teenager grinned, standing up. He shuffled over to place the card on an empty spot on his bookcase, settling the lantern next to it. He positioned it at an angle, so that it looked like the focal point of the whole thing, honestly. It really stood out.

Lucia grabbed the matches, since her father was too busy recovering from.. whatever had just happened, and skipped over to Keith. Within seconds, the candle inside of the lantern was lit, casting a calming, ethereal glow over that corner of the room. He smiled.

“Perfect. Really perfect. I can’t thank you guys enough,” Keith murmured, heading back over to sit down again. Lance shook his head. “Nonsense. I was seventeen once, too. I know it sucks,” he said, shrugging his shoulders.

Lucia giggled. “Yeah, one hundred years ago!”

And this time, it was Keith’s turn to choke on a giggle.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thanks for reading
> 
> :>


	5. Chapter Four

It was one of those days where Lance wanted nothing more than just to curl up in a little ball and sleep forever.

Hunk and Shay had taken Lucia out to the aquarium that day, much to the delight of the girl. That was obvious, given the fact that she had awoken at around five o'clock that morning with a bright smile on her face and a skip in her step as she danced around the living room, gushing about all of the different fish she would be seeing that day.

Lance loved her with all of his heart, of course, but he'd never felt relief like how he felt when Shay rang the doorbell and took Lucia with her.

Now, the apartment was quiet. The television was on in the background, providing but a distant hum. Keith wasn't playing his music, but it was ten o'clock in the morning. He probably wasn't even awake yet, how lucky.. To be a teenager again, huh?

Years of waking up at stupid o'clock in early hours of the day had programmed Lance to be completely incapable of going back to bed once he was up, sadly. As much as he _wanted_ to sleep the day away, he had other responsibilities. Cleaning, working.. ironing? The usual adult things that no adult actually enjoyed doing. It would be good to have time to get some unfinished documents out of the way, though. Lance got distracted way too easily when Lucia was around.

So, coffee in hand, he trudged into his cramped little office and parked his ass on the uncomfortable chair he'd be spending a few hours on.

It was bright out, of course. The sky was relatively clear, some clouds hanging around here and there, but it was all blue for the most part. It was less silent here, since the window was open. It allowed the sounds from the busy street below to travel up the brick walls and into his little working space, filling the room with the continuous honking of car horns and the chatter of people walking around below.

Lance ignored it, though, pulling up his laptop and opening it. He got to immediate work on where he'd last left off; finishing a report about stocks and the increases and decreases of boring shit like that. He actually really disliked his job, but it was all he could manage in his situation. If it were up to Lance, he would like to be a doctor. He wanted to help people. The idea of it was just so appealing to him. It had been a bit of a lifelong dream.

He just couldn't, though.

Providing for his daughter was Lance's main priority. Sure, doctors made an impressive amount of money and he wanted nothing more than to spoil Lucia rotten sometimes, but it was so impractical. Doctors were busy, they couldn't just work from home. They were put on call, and Lance couldn't afford to just get up and respond to something so serious at any given time. Hunk and Shay were perfect for days like today, when he was behind on work. He couldn't expect them to stand in as Lu's full time parents, though.

It was a dream that would remain a dream.

Lance sighed, taking a sip of his coffee before he returned to typing. He spent a lot of time just.. typing. He was grateful he got to do it at home, since he was positive he'd lose his mind cooped up in an actual office block all day. It was just tiring.

The sound of music starting to play caused Lance to look up. First, he eyed the clock on his laptop. It was actually around noon by then, so it wasn't unusual for Keith to be awake at this time. He usually played music all day. There was rarely a moment that the distant rhythm wasn't audible. It always brought a smile to the man's face, for some reason. He just liked the noise. Even on days like this where he was so unbelievably exhausted..

It was comforting.

Lance glanced over to the window across from his own, half expecting to see his neighbour twirling around his room like he usually did. Instead, though, he was met with a fully clothed Keith, perched on what looked to be another window seat. He was dressed in a pair of black jeans that looked like they'd had an unfortunate encounter with a lawnmower, as well as a similarly coloured hoodie. He hadn't yet caught his eye, so Lance stayed watching for a minute or two.

Keith had one leg actually dangling out of the window, the other pulled up to his chest. He seemed to be focused on his phone, typing furiously for a split second before he tossed the device somewhere behind him and pulled something else out. Cigarettes.

It actually kind of hurt Lance's heart to see that, and he wasn't really sure. Maybe just because Keith was so young? It was such a horrible habit to develop. He didn't want the teen to have to suffer with the long term effects of smoking, but perhaps he was just being a dad there..

While Keith was distracted with lighting the cigarette, Lance moved closer to his own window. He pushed his laptop out of the way, standing up from his desk altogether and dragging his chair over so he had somewhere to sit. He wasn't really sure why he was so intent on watching the teenager, since that sounded just as creepy as it probably was, but for some reason, he was drawn to the boy.

He was.. intriguing.

"Those will kill you, y'know," he called out, and the words left Lance's mouth before he could even stop himself. It was a bit of a shock to both boys, apparently, and it only hit the man afterwards that maybe scaring Keith while he was practically dangling out the window of a fifteenth floor apartment was probably a bad idea.

The teenager looked up, taking a long drag out of his cigarette. "Staring at teenagers through your window will probably get you in some shit, too," he joked. Their windows weren't overly close, but they were close enough to hear one another, and certainly close enough for Lance to see the playful smirk that rugged at Keith's lips.

"Oh, shush. Would you prefer I hang out Lu's window and stare at that old bat next door in her nightdress?" he questioned, propping his elbow up on the windowsill and leaning his chin on his hand. He mimicked Keith's smirk at the grimace he received. "Thanks for that mental image."

Keith took another drag from his cigarette, flicking a bit of ash off afterwards. "Seriously, though, smoking is bad for you," Lance warned, watching as the little ember disappeared into thin air shortly after the flick of the teen's thumb caused it to fall. He was being genuine. Anyone he knew that smoked regretted it a lot. He didn't want Keith to get to his age and wish someone had intervened sooner.

"Who says I wanna do good for myself?" he quipped, raising a brow. Lance sighed. Somehow, he'd forgotten he was arguing with a seventeen year old. Logic and stable points weren't gonna get him anywhere, were they? "Fair enough, but don't say I didn't warn you."

Keith just shrugged. He nodded his head along to the music that was currently playing from somewhere inside of his room. Lance recognised the song and grinned. "Busted?" he called, earning a similar grin from the boy.

"Hell yeah. I was born in the wrong time, man. I was too young to appreciate their music when it was current," he answered. Busted were popular in the early 2000s, Lance remembered. He would've been about ten when the current song that was playing was released. Keith, on the other hand, was about.. three?

The man let out a soft laugh, reaching from his coffee and taking a sip. "Yeah, you're a baby," he teased, earning a very warranted middle finger from Keith. The teenager eyed the mug of coffee in his neighbour's hand, before gesturing to it with the hand that was holding the cigarette. "I refuse to let you give me advice on what's good for me if you're drinking coffee. It'll kill you," he joked.

Lance laughed again.

Keith was easy to talk to. He was funny, but in an unintentional way. He was sarcastic, and it led to some amusing jokes leaving his mouth. He also seemed quite.. down to earth. Lance knew a few teenagers, but none of them were like Keith. Any seventeen year olds that he knew were much less mature than his quirky little neighbour. Lance knew that immaturity was typical for teenagers, but he didn't really like it.

He liked Keith, though.

"Where's Lucia?"

Lance looked up after hearing the name of his daughter, a smile immediately appearing on his face. He loved talking about his little girl, but Hunk was usually the only person who cared to ask. He had other friends, but they generally took his daughter as something to avoid; something that prohibited him from having fun. The fact that Keith had noticed her absence made him quite happy.

"My friend and his partner took her out for the day," he replied. "I wanted to get some work done, they wanted to take her to an aquarium. Worked out alright for me." Lance chuckled quietly, taking another sip of his coffee. Keith nodded in understanding. "I see. She's a sweet girl. You're doing good."

And those words meant the world to Lance.

From day one, he's been terrified that Lucia was missing out. What if she craved a mother figure? Would she be happier if she had Nyma instead? Would she prefer to be around other girls, or was she content with her dad? These were questions that constantly plagued his mind. Was the reason his little girl liked Shay so much because she was like a mom? Did she prefer her?

It kept Lance up at night sometimes. He would just lay in bed, staring at the ceiling with a heavy feeling in his heart. For the past seven, almost eight years, he'd wanted nothing more than to make his daughter the happiest that she could be. It was a constant fear that he wasn't doing that.

So to hear from Keith, someone who hadn't even known them that long, that he was doing good..? It was like a breath of fresh air after days spent underwater.

"Thanks, man. I try my hardest for her. I just hope she doesn't feel like she's missing out. I mean, all of her friends have moms, y'know? It's only normal for her to wonder why hers isn't around.." Lance sighed, running a hand through his hair. He heard Keith clicking his tongue, and looked back up.

"Has she ever asked?"

"Yeah, all the time. I always try and make her mom out to be the world's best. I don't want her to develop a negative opinion. It wasn't Nyma's fault that she wasn't ready for kids. I told her that she had lots of work to do and that her job required her to be there.. a lot, y'know? But I think she's pieced it together on her own."

Keith had finished his cigarette by now, so Lance had his full attention. He leaned back against the wall next to his little window seat, drumming his fingers against his knee.

"Well, it's mature of you not to paint your ex out to be a complete bitch, even if she was. I bet half of the reason that Lu is how she is comes from the fact that you're not feeding her negativity," he began, looking over to Lance with a sincere nod of his head. "She would just end up holding resentment for both of you if you spoke badly about her mom. Even if she has pieced it together, she'll learn when she gets older that you did the right thing by doing what you're doing. She'll thank you for being a good role model, y'know? And I'm not making this up. I speak from experience."

Lance listened intently as Keith gave him what had to be the world's best advice. He'd never had anyone - even Hunk, the nicest man alive - agree with him on speaking highly of Nyma for Lu's benefit. The teenager had put into words everything that he was trying to achieve, and it felt like a huge weight had been lifted from his shoulders. Even if it was just temporary, it was gone for now.

"Damn.. thank you, really. I can't..- That's a big relief, just that you understand. I have an inner battle every time the topic comes up," he explained, crossing his arms on the windowsill. Lance hadn’t meant to turn Keith’s morning cigarette into a therapy session, but the kid was fucking good at this. He would apologise later.

Keith gave him a little smile, shaking his head. “My brother says the same. He used to panic every time I asked about my mom. In reality, though, his word to me was just.. gospel. I’m sure Lucia is the same with you. She’ll take what you say as the truth, she’s impressionable, so use that platform to give her a positive attitude instead of bringing her down.”

And just like that, a teenager solved Lance’s problems.

The older man flashed a smile, shaking his head a bit. “You’re ahead of your time, Keith. That was impressive, I’ll give you that. I guess i’m doing good, then. Like you said?”

“Like I said,” Keith grinned.

— — —

After a long conversation at the window with Keith, they both had to start getting to their work. The teenager had a job downtown at a bookstore, while Lance had a week’s worth of piled up unfinished documents open in front of him. He felt so much better after the chat, though, like his head was completely cleared. Thanks to that, he was able to get back on track, and within an hour, he was done.

Lucia wasn’t scheduled to come home until around six or seven, while by the time he was free of typing it was only five. He took his sweet time in the shower to take up as many minutes as he could, and after that, he took some even sweeter time preparing dinner for himself. Hunk said they would bring Lu out to get something to eat after the aquarium, so he had little to no parenting worries that day.

Lance ate in silence, the only sound being the occasional clink of his fork against the plate. He had to admit, he’d grown used to Keith’s music. He missed it when the kid wasn’t around. Not that he’d admit that out loud. He had to appear cool to appeal to the teen, right? That was what he thought, at least. Anyway, showing interest in him would probably just make him seem really lame.

That was something he wanted to avoid.

After dinner, Lance wasted the last peaceful hour or so on his phone, scrolling through Instagram, replying to texts from his family. Boring stuff like that. He was starting to miss Lucia by then, wishing her singing was there to fill the living room, or her giggles there to travel up and down the hallway. The apartment was unusually tidy too, without her toys scattered across the floor.

It was music to his ears when the doorbell finally rang, much like it had been that morning when he was excited for the quiet.

Once Lance had opened the door, Lucia jumped up into his arms, tackling her dad into an excited hug. He caught her with ease, barely stumbling backwards as he hugged the girl tight to his chest, one had supporting her, the other rested gently on the back of her head.

“I missed you!” he exclaimed, pressing a little kiss to her forehead. Lucia’s muffled giggles caused Lance to smile, and he turned to give Shay, who was waiting by the door, a little wave. They shared their goodbyes, and then they were alone.

Carefully, the man set his daughter down on the floor, flashing a grin at her. “Did you have fun?” he asked, which opened up a whole window of excited rambling about her day that lasted almost an hour.

Not that Lance minded, though. Her happiness is what mattered most to him, and after his chat with Keith that day, he was pretty sure that he was succeeding.

He was doing good, after all. Like he said.

Like Keith said.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> shorter than usual, i’m sorry. but i hope you enjoyed. thank you for reading.
> 
> :>


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